Twenty Four Years Later
by QueenLunaCrystal
Summary: After all they've been through, you'd think they'd get a break. Yeah right. In a new world with a weaker Mist, a Norse-alien-aspect and a revelation about the Infinity Stones' connection to Earth, the Heroes of Olympus must work together with their mortal counterparts to save the world. And a secret Calypso has kept for centuries will soon be revealed.
1. Chapter 1:

Chapter 1:

 **The first few chapters are just a bit of a recap of the differences in the movies/backstories because of who some characters are, mixed in with some bits of demigods during the invasion of NY. It may seem a little random, sorry ;D P.S. Annabeth and Percy are 40 during the (II) invasion of New York and I've changed the year to 2036 and maybe a few other things (IDK yet) to fit the timeline. Please PM if you want to have your cover on here, and all critics without swearing are fine, including flames (I'll just use them to fuel my fireplace). Oops, almost forgot the disclaimer. I don't own any of Rick's books or the Avengers franchise. There. Done.**

Tony steps into the penthouse as the last bits of his suit are removed from his body. Pepper, a blonde woman, and a willowy Latino man stare at the screen floating above the desk. "Levels are holding steady...I think," Pepper says.

"You think?" Tony and the Latino man repeat in unison. "Just so you know, Valdez and I were directly involved. Of course it works! With two geniuses in on it, what could go wrong?" Tony asks.

"Two geniuses?" the blonde woman asks innocently. "Four geniuses," Tony rushes to correct himself. "Which brings me to my next question: How does it feel to be a genius?" He hooks his arm around Pepper's waist.

"Annabeth, I think it's time to leave these love birds to themselves," Valdez says to the blonde woman while waggling his eyebrows. "Shut up, Repair Boy." Annabeth slaps his arm then leads him to the elevator.

"Well, I wouldn't really know, now, would I?" Pepper says after they left.

"What do you mean? All this came from you," Tony says.

"No all this came from that." Pepper points to Tony's chest, where a blue light is emitting from a sphere in the center.

"Give yourself some credit, please," Tony says, pushing away Pepper's hand from his chest. "Stark Tower is your baby. Give yourself...twelve percent of the credit."

"Twelve percent?!" Pepper exclaims, astonished by Tony's ego.

"Well, that's two percent more credit than either Jackson or Valdez," Tony states, "and a case can be made for fifteen."

"Twelve percent?" Pepper repeats. "For my baby?"

"Well, I did do all the heavy lifting. Literally; I lifted all the heavy things. And sorry, but the security snafu? That was on you," Tony states.

"Oooooh, you did not just say that," Pepper wagged her finger at Tony. That comment was going to have several consequences later.

…

 _During the conversation between Fury and Loki..._

"It's an impressive cage, not built, I think, for me?" Loki says.

"Built for something a lot stronger than you," Fury replies.

"Oh, I've heard; the mindless beast that makes play he's still a man," Loki continues, "How desperate are you, that you call on such lost creatures to defend you?"

"How desperate am I? You threaten my world with war, you steal a force you can't hope to control, you talk about peace, but you kill 'cause it's fun," Fury retorts. "You have made me very desperate. You might not be glad you did."

"Ooh…," Loki realizes something from the tone of Fury's voice. "You're clear-sighted, aren't you, or, or," he notices Fury's almost nonexistent flinch, "a minor godling?" Loki smiles, finally gaining an edge in the conversation. "They don't know, do they? About real power, about the wars, about the gods. About _you_."

"Personally, I prefer to call the gods 'powerful beings,'" Fury replies stiffly. Loki laughs sinisterly. "Oh, let's not change the subject now. The gods' infiltrators of SHIELD, oh how fun that one of them ends up director of the entire operation. You've known about the supernatural for a while now, you were born a part of it." Loki's eyes twinkle mischievously. Fury raises one eyebrow. "Infiltrated? Well, I guess we'll have to change that."

Loki laughs again. "And I thought the Graeci weren't supposed to interfere with other pantheons' problems." Loki suddenly becomes serious.

"It burns you to have come so close, to have power on par to your gods, to finally be free of their influence. A warm light for mankind to share, then be reminded what real power is." Loki sneers.

Fury smirks as he turns away. "Well, let me know if 'real power' wants a magazine or something."

…

The team sits somberly. "He really grows on you, doesn't he?" Banner finally breaks the silence.

"What did he mean by 'godling,' and is Fury one of them?" Natasha mutters quietly without anybody noticing.

"He's gonna drag this out. So, Thor, what's his play?" Steve asks the Asgardian.

"He has an army called the Chitauri. They're not of Asgard or any world known. He means to lead them against your people. They will win him the earth. In return, I suspect, for the Tesseract," Thor answers. "Though why he would strike here I do not know."

Steve furrows his eyebrows. "What do you mean 'why he would strike here'?"

"This is not my brother's style. He was always one for trickery; this seems very frontal. He is, after all, aiming for one of the largest cities on Midgard," Thor rushes to explain, as though he was hiding something.

"Should we expect something else?" Widow asks, curious about what could cause such a reaction in Thor.

"Perhaps, he's seems to be focusing the majority of his resources here, though, even the Chitauri army is not endless."

"So an army. From outer space," Steve says.

"So he's building another portal. That's what he needs Erik Selvig for," Bruce realizes.

…

"Annabeth, the IM machine's ringing!" Percy calls to his wife, who is currently in her study/ their bedroom working on various blueprints. "Well, answer it then!" she snaps back.

Over the years, it had become a little dangerous for Iris Messages to just automatically show up in front of the person called, so Leo and the Hephaestus kids, as well as some of the Hecate and (of course) Iris kids, helped to create an iPad-like machine that allowed the rainbow to come up inside the screen so it looked like video chat. It also had a pre-built mist enchantment in there, so all you had to do was enter a drachma into the side slot to IM someone. There was also a recall function that allowed you to bring up a previous message to show somebody else. Suffice to say, it made things a lot easier.

Percy began to curse Hermes for sending a message this early in the morning, and got up from the floor where he was playing with Dylan, only eight years old and their youngest kid.

After the Giant War, the prophecy fiasco, and the Norse almost-Ragnarok, Percy and Annabeth had finally started to settle down. They went to the Oakland College for Mixed Races (haha) in New Rome where Percy majored Marine Biology, and Adventure Education **(no joke, this is an actual major)**. He was moderately interested in the field, if a bit behind being kicked out of school and whatnot, but studying with Annabeth had helped to catch him up. Meanwhile, Annabeth had studied Engineering and (obviously) Architecture, where she actually taught a thing or two to the Roman professors about Ancient Greek methods.

Anyways, they decided not to settle in New Rome, instead favoring to make their home in a small flat in New York near Sally's place. Throughout the years, they had three children. Zoe, the eldest, had eventually decided to join the Hunters like her namesake and was currently nineteen years old, although she still looked twelve. She had inherited her father's prowess with weapons and her mother's adeptness with analysis. She favored her dagger, nicknamed Efthys, and was especially adept at throwing it. It, like her father's sword, was enchanted to return to her in its ring form: a polished silver band inlaid with a lavender-aqua tinted pearl.

The middle child, Sophia, had gotten her father's hydrokinesis and her mother's thirst for knowledge, but she was extremely ADHD, not as bad as Leo, but still pretty bad. She carried some sort of fidgeter or activity anywhere she went in order to make sure she didn't end up making water animals whenever she got bored. However, her reflexes were spot on. She carried a Celestial bronze spear about four and a half feet long that turned into a small bronze charm that could be hooked onto the bracelet Leo had given her for her seventh birthday. Sophia decided to name it Thoós, after her best attribute, and at her current age, fifteen, she could handle it like a master.

Finally, Dylan was born. He had his mother's critical thinking skills, but he had his father's mouth, and hadn't learnt to keep it shut yet, as well as his father's water-healing abilities. Dylan was still unsure of what weapon he wanted, but seemed to be capable with a sword like his father.

Dylan quickly got up and followed Percy as he pushed a button and Hermes' face came on screen. "Attention all demigods, as of now an enemy from another pantheon, the Norse-Alien Aspect, is attacking New York and various other cities in the United States. Do not panic; they have already sent somebody to deal with the problem. However, mortals are involved and therefore powers are not to be used under any circumstances. All people inside the camps are to stay there until the all-clear, those outside are suggested to seek a safe house in the area. This is, however, not mandatory. Please refrain from helping unless in self-defense or the defense of others." The message shut off.

"Oh great, another alert," Percy grumbles. "Annabeth!" he yells. "I heard!" she replies while sketching down a new infrastructure idea for another one of Stark's building projects. "OK!" Percy says and turns around to enter the children's room. Sophia was inside studying for her Pre-Calculus test on Tuesday, her unkempt blond hair up in a loose ponytail to keep it out of her face while she reviewed her notes and her feet were constantly tapping. "Did you hear the message?" Percy asks. "Hmm?" Sophia looks up. "Oh, yeah, no powers and no direct interfering, yep got it." She got back to studying. "Ok then," Percy mutters before turning around and asking Dylan, "You want to spar, hand-to-hand, just you and me?" Dylan nods, but then asks quietly, "Are we gonna be ok?"

"We're gonna be fine, kiddo." Percy replies and ruffles Dylan's raven hair. Dylan's swirly silvery-teal eyes brighten and he smiles as they head to the living room.

 **AN: I have the next chapter ready, and it will be up after five reviews to give me an idea on what to improve or two weeks, whichever comes first! Your demigodishness, QLC**


	2. Chapter 2:

Chapter 2:

 **I'm going to tell you this now: my schedule is 1-4 updates a month, so the most you're gonna get is once a week (and that's going to be very rare), sorry, but I really don't have time every day to write some more, I wish I did, but I don't, and I don't want to put myself under some crazy deadline either and not post in time.**

"Yes, and I'm not leaving because suddenly you get a little twitchy. I'd like to know why SHIELD is using the Tesseract to build weapons of mass destruction," Bruce questioned.

Fury pointed to Thor. "Because of him."

"Me?" Thor asked, stunned.

"Last year earth had a visitor from another planet who had a grudge match that leveled a small town. We learned that not only are we not alone, but we are hopelessly, hilariously, outgunned," Nick Fury explained, though his argument wasn't exactly true; he'd known about the gods for some time now.

"But my people want nothing but peace with your planet," Thor argued.

"But you're not the only people out there, are you? And, you're not the only threat. The world's filling up with people who can't be matched, they can't be controlled," Fury responded.

"Like you controlled the cube?" Steve inquired.

"You're work with the Tesseract is what drew Loki to it, and his allies. It is the signal to all the realms that the earth is ready for a higher form of war," Thor informed them. "If it weren't for the numerous gods of Earth, your planet would have already been invaded."

"A higher form?" Steve asked, missing the 'numerous gods' part.

"You forced our hand. We had to come up with something; we couldn't just rely on the gods anymore," Fury tried to justify his ideas, though his heart really wasn't in it.

"Nuclear deterrent. `Cause that always calms everything right down," Tony quipped.

"Remind me again how you made your fortune, Stark?" Fury reminded him. Steve and Tony began to argue about Stark's ego.

"I thought humans were more evolved than this," Thor said, shaking his head.

"Excuse me, did WE come to YOUR planet and blow stuff up? Your alien aspect is absolutely stupid!" Fury yelled.

"Did you always give your champions such mistrust?" Thor retorted.

"Are you all really all that naive? We have a watch list. S.H.I.E.L.D monitors potential threat-" Bruce cut Natasha off. "Potential threats? Watch list?" As they argued, Loki's scepter began to glow a vibrant blue.

…

A loud BOOM was heard across the city. Percy put his hand against the center of the omega symbol on the wall and the wall retracted, unveiling an impossibly large room filled with supplies. He ushered the children inside alongside Sally and his sister, Estelle. "I love you, be careful," Sally kissed her son's cheek.

"You better not gonna die to monsters, or I'll go down to Elysium and kill you," Estelle said and punched her big brother's shoulder before following her mother into the safe room.

"Don't open it unless you hear somebody knock twice, say alpha, knock three times, and say omega, got it?" Annabeth asked. Everybody nodded in understanding. "Good," Annabeth said, running her hand through her curly blond hair. Percy removed his hand from the wall and the omega symbol turned upside down, locking it.

The couple ran into their bedroom, pushed a hidden button on their closet door, and opened it to reveal a multitude of battle wear, ranging from traditional Greek armor to sleek combat suits currently in the form of metal bands. They selected the combat suits; Annabeth's bands were silver and Percy's a polished bronze. They both attached their bands to their various limbs and pressed a button on the one on their neck, causing them to become cloaked in ultra-strong, ultra-light fabric mixed in with celestial bronze and imperial gold threads.

Annabeth's suit was a silvery-gray and had a small hole where her ponytail of blonde hair peeked out, while the suit Percy had was a dark sea green. The suits had a breathable fabric covering their faces (besides their eyes and mouth) and both had a chameleon mode that allowed them to go undetected. Also, both their suits were water-proof, fire-proof, electric-proof and a lot of other proofs that Leo made sure to add just in case.

"Let's go save the world again!" Percy exclaimed sarcastically. "It's not that bad, plus, we're just getting civilians out of the way, no major interference," Annabeth kissed him on the cheek. "You meet up with Calypso and Leo on East 39th, I'll scout," Percy said. "Deal," Annabeth agreed. They both activated chameleon mode and slunk out the front door into the chaotic streets of New York.

…

Steve sprinted away from the pursuing Chitauri. He turned into an alley, only for it to be a dead end. Five Chitauri blocked the exit. Unexpectedly, a floating bronze sword sliced two of the Chitauri, then knocked out another one and carved up the remaining ones. "What the heck?" Steve exclaimed. A man in a sea green suit appeared holding the sword. Steve hefted his shield. The man raised his hands up. "Don't be alarmed, we're here to help." Steve squinted his eyes, but nodded and ran out of the alley towards a bus filled with civilians with the suit-man keeping pace.

"So what you here for?" Steve asked the man as they reach the bus. "To defend the Earth, save some lives, the usual," the man said casually as he broke open the doors to let the citizens out and pointed them to the nearest subway entrance. Steve, meanwhile, was covering them by bashing some alien heads in. "You seem pretty calm," Steve continued. After getting the last person out, the man turned to Steve and answered, "This isn't my first battle." with his stormy green eyes glaring fiercely as he pushed a button on his wrist and disappeared.

…

Calypso was having a pretty bad day. First, her youngest daughter, Fotiá, had set fire to one of her tapestries. Then Esperanza, who had gotten her father's mechanic abilities as well as her mother's weaving ones, had gotten stuck in Camp Half-blood while she was using the forges because of the lockdown, and Aura, named after one of Calypso's oldest friends, had accidently broken some plates while practicing her aerokinesis. Well, at least they were secure inside the safe room. Now, she had to save New York. Great. Just great. At least she still had Leo.

She was jumping from rooftop to rooftop using bursts of wind to boost herself over the gaps with Leo beside her using spurts of flame. They spotted Annabeth a few buildings away and made their way over to her. "You guys know the drill?" she asked. "Yeah, bash some heads, save some lives, the usual," Leo said with a shrug of his dark bronze suit-covered shoulders. Annabeth glared at him. He put his hands up. "Ok, ok, fine. You and I are perimeter, and Calypso and Percy are central. No blowing stuff up, no nagging things, and no taking off the suit. We get it." Annabeth's glare subsided. She looked to Calypso. "Got it?"

"Yep," Calypso replied and ran towards the north edge of the building before leaping and letting loose a rush of wind, carrying her to the next building over. She used the Mist to make herself taller and have chocolatey locks of hair instead of her usual caramel brown before jumping into the fray.

After awhile of showing citizens to the subway stations, she found two mortals, one fiery-haired and shooting bullets, and the other a dirty blonde holding a high-tech bow and quiver. Calypso leapt down from the rooftop and slowed her descent with a cushion of wind. The archer aimed an arrow at her head while the fire-girl kept her guns trained on her white-suited chest. "Who are you?" the fire-girl demanded. Calypso responded by waving her arms and sending blades of air at the advancing Chitauri, cutting them in half. "An ally," Calypso replied curtly. They lowered their weapons and turned back to the aliens, ready for the next wave.

As Captain America came running towards the agents, Calypso flew off in a gust of wind. "Who was she?" Steve asked. "Another Avenger," Clint answered.

…

Will and Nico were ready to go. Will entered a drachma into the IM device and said, "Show me Annabeth Chase-Jackson in New York City." Annabeth appeared on screen hiding behind a car. "What?" she hissed.

"I'm going to create an inter-body death chain between all the Chitauri," Nico replied smoothly.

"What?!" she repeated more alarmed than annoyed this time. "But that could kill you!"

"That's why I'm here," Will interjected. "To heal him and make sure he doesn't."

Annabeth bit her lip. "You sure?"

"He'll be perfectly fine, or I wouldn't be a part of it. Plus, the mortals might need it," Will reassured her.

Annabeth nodded, giving it the go-ahead. "Alright, I'll tell the others; we'll try to cover you."

"Thanks," Nico said truthfully before turning the machine off. He nodded towards Will. "C'mon, we've got some work to do." Will grabbed his arm as they melted into shadows.

…

 **(Not exactly sure where to place this scene)**

Calypso was hopping from skyscraper to skyscraper as fast as she could, helping any civilians she happened to come across. But, Calypso had a larger agenda. She dashed past the archer again, and this time spotted Loki. She quickly changed direction and flew towards him. Calypso stopped at the edge of a building he was going to pass in a few seconds, waited, then jumped, using the wind to propel her forwards. She shot a blade of wind at his chariot on the way down and watched as Loki landed like a cat a few feet away from her. Calypso slowed her fall with an updrift.

"Oh, it's you," Loki chuckled as he stood up, "well, looks like the student has surpassed the teacher."

"It wasn't the teacher who just got blasted out of his own chariot," she replied soberly, though her amber eyes mirrored the mischievous twinkle in Loki's bluish green ones. 'Wait, blue?' she thought, 'Loki's eyes were green!' Her eyes widened for a second as she thought of the blue eyes of the mortals controlled by his scepter.

"Nervous?" Loki said as he created his signature astral projections to surround her, then summoned a bluish green whip that was mirrored in his copies' hands. 'Blue-green again,' she thought as they flickered back to their usual emerald-and-gold for a second before returning to their corrupted state. Loki spread his arms. "A spar," he announced, "just like old times on the island."

Calypso summoned her celestial bronze staff and held it in front of her in a defensive stance, its sharp tip glinting in the sunlight. "Just like old times," she murmured, and, as if he had heard her, the Lokis charged.

She swept her staff in an arc, sending tendrils of Mist out that disrupted the projections' forms. Only the one to her left wasn't affected. She sent blades of wind at him, but he just lashed and his whip and dispersed the gales, then flicked his hand and sent the stream of energy racing towards her. Calypso simply thickened the wind around her into a shield that the whip bounced off of.

Not planning to give up, Loki lashed his whip again and again against the transparent shield. Finally, an invisible crack to those who couldn't sense magic began to form. Loki grinned as he focused his strikes on the fissure. In a few more strokes, he shattered the shield.

"C'mon, fight back!" he said, a wolfish grin on his face. He lashed his whip and Calypso responded by sweeping him under with a gust of wind.

"I won't fight you," Calypso said shakily as she pushed magic from her fingertips, weaving it into a glowing amber net that she thrusted upon Loki. "I want to persuade you."

Loki strained against the twine that sapped his energy. "Persuade me? Ha. You're still using draining magic," he snarled, "I am perfectly sure of what I'm doing."

"No, you aren't." By this time, Calypso's eyes were glistening with tears.

"Yes, I am!" he yelled.

"THEN WHY ARE YOUR EYES BLUE?!" she shouted.

"What?" he said, so taken aback by the statement that he didn't even notice the net had disappeared.

"Your eyes are blue," Calypso repeated, this time so soft that Loki could barely hear her. "The same color as the mortals controlled by the scepter. Somebody's controlling you. You attacked New York, a horrible show of strategy, one you never would have supported. You're fighting it. You intentionally led them here, because you _knew_ that if things got out of hand, the gods would strike you and the Chitauri down!" By this time, she was yelling again, and Loki had his hands pressed against his temples as a fierce headache attacked his head.

"No, no, no!" his eyes flickered their normal green, but then immediately flared Tesseract blue. He removed his hands from his head. "No," he said, his voice almost monotone. "I serve no one, and I will rule the Earth as king."

Another chariot picked him up and Calypso didn't even try to stop him as he flew away. She collapsed, overcome with emotion for her dearest student and friend. She silently sobbed, as she had every night on Ogygia as she waited for her release from the prison. But, just as she had every morning on the island, she picked herself up and walked, slowly at first, but then breaking into a full-out sprint as she jumped up onto another building and ran, away from the portal, away from the battle, away from Loki. But, just as she had known on the island, she knew she could never escape it all.

…

After many jumps through the shadow dimension, they finally arrived within the Chitauri mothership. Nico stumbled around in exhaustion. He leaned against the wall, then got a confused look on his face. He ran his hand along the wall. "Organic."

"What?" Will said as he touched Nico's arm, using his light powers **(oh yeah, did I forget to mention Will had light powers? Silly me)** to burn some of the residual shadow out of him.

"Organic," Nico repeated. "The ship's alive. I can connect the Chitauri soldiers to the mothership."

Will scrunched up his eyebrows in thought. "But wouldn't it be hard to destroy the ship? Why make it so difficult?"

Nico rolled his eyes, which was hard to do in his exhausted state. "The mothership is the center of the Chitauri forces. If the mortals destroy this, they've won anyway. We're just helping with the clean-up."

Will's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, so that way we won't be disobeying the order to not 'directly' interfere."

"Yep," Nico said as he pressed both hands against the wall, calling up the shadows from every Chitauri soldier to connect to the ship's many shadows. Around him, a black mist formed, only kept at bay by Will's now brightly lit hands that were currently pushing as much healing energy as they could into Nico's body. For a few seconds, Nico's eyes turned pure black, and Will's turned a blinding gold-white. Then, it was over, and Nico only just had enough time and energy to shadow-travel out of there as the nuclear bomb exploded, obliterating the mothership and the surrounding vessels.

The couple appeared out of the shadows in middle of the Jacksons' flat. Will quickly fed Nico and himself some nectar before they collapsed, drained and unconscious. Percy and Annabeth entered their home to find them on the floor, and quickly moved them to the chairs in the living room. After doing that, Annabeth knocked twice, said alpha, knocked three times, and said omega.

The door to the safe room opened, revealing the people inside alive and unharmed, unlike the tired, battered, and bruised demigods outside. "I'm so glad you're OK!" Sally said, pulling Percy into a hug, then releasing him and making her way to Annabeth. Estelle simply nodded in acknowledgement they were alive and made her way to the kitchen to cook something up for them. Sophia and Dylan were asking them all sorts of questions about what happened until Sally reminded them that their parents were tired and probably needed some rest and ushered over to the kitchen before returning back to where Annabeth and Percy were. "Go and get some rest. I'll keep them occupied," she reassured them and escorted them into their bedroom, closing the door behind them. The couple removed their suits, flopped onto the bed, and were snoring in seconds.

 **AN: Yes, I know, I know, I added in a Loki arc, but I _really_ like the character and want to incorporate him into the story (though I'm not sure whether I want him to actually turn into a full-on hero later on). Also, I need some help. When the demigods are revealed, who should be there? I'm definitely having Leo, Annabeth, Calypso, and (probably) Will, but the rest are up to you! The poll's up and running as of this post. Your demigodishness, QLC**


	3. Chapter 3:

**Well, now I know not to put all my writing into one update, but still, it fit together so well! Also, this is no longer a PJO/Avengers, but a Rickverse/Avengers crossover! Which you'd already know if you voted on the poll... *wink wink* but anyways, here's a bit of the Rickverse:**

The team was sitting around a long steel table, with Fury standing at the head. "So what are we going to do with Loki?" Fury posed the question that was the reason for the meeting.

"You heard Thor, he shoots him and Reindeer Games up to Asgard with the rainbow and then he faces punishment there; end of discussion." Tony gets up from his chair and turns to exit the room before being pulled back into his seat by Natasha. "But what about all the questions?" Natasha asks and faces Thor. "You said that the Chitauri shouldn't have obeyed him, why?"

Thor clears his throat. "Ehm, actually, there is somebody I would like to interrogate Loki that is only available on Midgard," he says, avoiding the question.

"Oh," Fury says, trying to sound interested for the sake of his cover, "and where can we find this...person?"

Thor looks around the room nervously before quietly speaking, "I'm afraid I can't tell you that without the possibility of me being executed, Lord Fury."

Said man raises an eyebrow. "Very well, but can he be trusted?"

Thor seems to relax at this statement. "Yes, I would trust him, erm, her, uh, with my life."

"And what's her name?" Steve asks.

"Lady Alex," Thor states, "Alex Fierro."

…

Two figures stood alone and unwatched in a Boston courtyard."So let me get this straight," Alex says, "You want me to interrogate my...parent and try to get information out of him that no other super-spy has been able to."

Thor shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you are his daughter-" "son, currently" "-son and are familiar with his silver tongue; you may be able to out-maneuver him in speech," Thor explains.

"And why aren't you talking to Sam about this right now? I may be more familiar with his nature, but she got the smooth-talking genes," Alex (now a she) states.

"Lady Sammirah is currently busy with more pressing matters," Thor excused himself. "Oh, you will also need to shape-shift into an older form; my associates wouldn't take kindly to your young appearance."

"You mean like this." Alex shifted into a twenty-eight year old looking woman wearing black dress-pants and an emerald vest with a long-sleeved black dress-shirt, with, of course, a pink bow-tie. Her hair was her normal short-and-curly style, with her hair tips still dyed a vest-matching green. She wore a golden bracelet with a serpentine hook: a shrunken version of Sif's wedding garrote. Her petite features made her seem small and inconspicuous, but once you saw the hardness of her determined eyes, you could tell she was a warrior at heart, and one who had seen one too many battles. Alex smiled, her grin so similar to Loki's that Thor's heart ached for the older, simpler days. "Ready?" he asked, pulling out the Tesseract. "Ready," Alex replied firmly, grabbing hold of the other handle. Thor turned the handle and a blue light overtook them, transporting them to the entrance of the SHIELD New York headquarters.

The headquarters was disguised as a small storefront in lower Manhattan. They landed right in front of a window covered by a sign saying, 'Alcohol, Cigarettes, and More!' in bright bold red letters. Alex studied the worn-down-looking structure. It impersonated a small New York shop pretty well. There were ash-trays lining the outside with some old cigarettes right next to them.

Thor pulled open the door and he and Alex entered the building. Even on the inside, it looked like a store, with racks full of snacks and packs of gum. The person at the register nodded to Thor and pressed a button under the table. Alex followed Thor into the 'Employees Only' door and down a hall to a system of elevators. Thor slid a keycard down a strip reader and the elevator on the right opened silently. They walked inside of the silver elevator, and Thor pressed the button numbered '34.' The pair waited in silence as the doors closed.

…

Natasha waited alongside the other Avengers and Fury in the control room. They watched as an late-twenties-looking woman with short, curly black-and-emerald hair walked into the interrogation room. She wore an emerald unisex tuxedo that distinguished her from the normal Asgardian. "That's Alex?" Tony raised an eyebrow. "Doesn't look like an Asgardian."

Natasha studied her. "Perhaps she's not," Natasha mumbled. Thor entered the room and looked intently at the screen, a grimace on his face.

Alex watched for Loki's expression as he saw her enter. Instead of looking shocked, not like she was expecting him to be, he simply threw his head back and laughed. He looked directly at the camera. "So, Thor, expecting to get something out of me by playing with my relatives? And you call me cruel," Loki sneered.

'Relatives?' Natasha narrowed her eyes, examining Alex attentively. Natasha noticed how the roots of Alex's hair matched Loki's raven black and they had the same willowy structure.

Alex sat in the seat in front of Loki. "I want to talk," Alex said plainly.

"You want to interrogate," Loki retorted.

"No," Alex corrected, "I want to talk. If you happen to give up information, you do so of your free will."

"Ah, but is a slave a slave if doesn't know it," Loki pulled out a well-known riddle.

"That depends on your perspective," Alex replied calmly. "After all, all of us work under a single body, so we could be considered slaves."

"You really did inherit my adeptness at manipulation," Loki smiled. "A genius with words."

"Takes one to know one," Alex responded smoothly, but clenched her hands under the table at Loki's obvious implications of them being related.

Even if Loki didn't see her hands, he seemed to know that she was upsetted by his words. "Oh, they didn't know, did they?" Loki said lightly, with a threatening undertone.

"I do not know whether Thor informed them of my parentage," Alex replied simply, but her hands were held so tightly that her knuckles had turned white.

"Parentage?" Stark turned to Thor, as well as the rest of the people in the control room. Thor tried to avoid their collective gazes, but ultimately gave in.

He sighed. "Alex is Loki's child."

"What?!" Everybody exclaimed.

"You let his _daughter_ in there!" Clint shouted.

"His _daughter_ helped us in the invasion of New York!" Thor yelled in response. "She is an honorable warrior who would never turn to Loki's corrupt ways!"

"She fought with us?" Steve interjected. "I never saw her."

Thor bit his lip, as if he had said something he wasn't supposed to. "That is for her to tell you."

Meanwhile, Alex and Loki's conversation was escalating. "You _knew_ ," Loki spat out the word like it was poison. "You _knew_ it was coming. You _knew_ I would turn. You _knew_ of my parentage. So you stopped visiting Asgard, you broke off your connection with me because you couldn't _bear_ the thought of your final chance at a parent leaving you. You wanted to preserve your last memories of me, before I turned."

"The curse of knowledge is never easy to bear," Alex said sadly, her eyes glistening.

"I could tell them everything!" Loki threatened, slamming his hand against the table as he stood up.

"But I know you won't!" Alex retorted, also standing. He leaned into Loki's face. "I know you won't because if you did all it would do is strengthen their bond." Loki gritted his teeth.

" _Kan Asgard rense deg for all korrupsjon_ ," Alex whispered as she put her hand on her mother's for a second as she uttered the spell. Loki flinched as the spell took hold, and his eyes flickered green for a second.

"What did she say to him?!" Natasha demanded as she turned to Thor. She was surprised to see Thor's eyes glistening from unspilled tears. Thor wiped his eyes. "It means 'May Asgard cleanse you of all corruption,' and is said as a goodbye to those found guilty from their closest family and friends, usually accompanied with a caress of the hand," Thor said half-truthfully.

"Oh," Natasha responded quietly. She hadn't meant to condemn Asgardian traditions; their relationship with the aliens was already strained.

Alex slowly lowered himself into his seat with Loki mirroring him. "Why do you this?" Alex pleaded with his mother. "This will get you nowhere besides the dungeons. You knew your plan wouldn't succeed, not with you attacking New York. You could've overtaken the government with words and lies, yet you chose to use a frontal assault. It isn't like you at all." Alex narrowed his eyes as he inspected Loki.

"I have my reasons," Loki responded coolly. He clasped his hands in front of him, now laying against his seat casually.

Alex gritted his teeth. He knew Thor should have brought Sam. She was much better with words than him. He and this Loki were way too similar and way too different. Anytime either tried to smooth-talk the other, all that happened was an argument with neither of them winning. With Sam, she could act as if she was angry and then manipulate him into giving up things he never would otherwise.

"I'm sure you do," Alex said, "But let's talk about another subject: mortals." Loki sat up and raised an eyebrow, intrigued by what his son could bring to the table.

"What the Avengers probably don't know is the numerous times you have come down to Midgard." Loki seemed to stiffen at this statement. He _had_ come down to Midgard many times before. Unlike Thor, he had always liked keeping his distance from the problem and enjoy some chaotic fun and training before attempting to fix said problem. Midgard became a sort of sanctuary, a place where he could take on a new face and not be bothered for his odd habits. Why had he tried to rule it? Loki's eyes turned green for a second, then flashed Tesseract blue.

"This is true," he admitted, "But my visits mean nothing of my favor of the planet."

Alex chuckled. "Oh? What of your half-breed children. I myself am proof of your favor of Earth."

"Visited it many times before?" Natasha asked Thor. Thor seemed to hesitate.

"It is true that he sometimes visits Midgard, though how often I do not know," Thor said. "Alex was the result of one affair with a mortal, and one of the few I know of. Loki seemed to enjoy Midgard, though, even before I did. So it was to my surprise he would attack it."

Natasha furrowed her eyebrows. It didn't make sense. Why would he try to subjugate a planet he enjoyed visiting as it was? If he wanted to make Thor suffer, he didn't need to enslave an entire planet. And if he wanted to rule, he could've taken over Midgard in many other easier ways besides a frontal assault. Even if he had an ego that maybe could've beaten Stark (Natasha was still betting on Stark), Loki didn't seem like a stupid person, being the god of mischief and all.

"One affair doesn't mean anything," Loki snarled.

Alex smiled. "Then why are you getting so worked up about it?" He asked innocently, but inside he was smirking at his parent's reaction.

"I left," Loki snapped. "Nothing that happened then affects me now."

Alex's eyes darkened. "Yes, you left," Alex spat, "You left me with my father. You let me be abused by him and his wife. It doesn't matter if you cared about me because you left me alone with _nothing_!"

"Now who's getting worked up!" Loki retorted. Alex stood up and pulled his garrote off from his wrist. He hooked it around Loki's neck and pulled him into Alex's face.

"Now listen here, _mother_ ," Alex snarled. Loki flinched backwards and choked when the garrote prevented him from moving. His form flickered, changing between his current state and a woman with long, wavy hair the color of fire that was wearing an emerald sequin dress. "You _do_ _not_ get to leave," Alex tightened the garrote, "to care again," he tightened the garrote, "to _finally_ give me a parent, whether a father or a mother, and then try to destroy the world. You do not get to leave again." By this time, Loki had his hands holding his throat and he had gone white from lack of oxygen. "And I don't care how much of a reason you have," Alex spoke softly into Loki's ear, "because I am _never_ going to try and love you again." Alex released him and Loki collapsed to the floor gasping for breath.

Alex looked directly at the camera. "We're done here." He walked out the door, leaving Loki alone in the room, who was finally beginning regret his mistakes.

…

At the conclusion of the interrogation, everybody turned to Thor with their eyebrows raised.

"Loki is a girl?!" Tony shrieked.

"Loki's given birth? How does that even work?!" Bruce questioned him.

"What else have you been withholding from us?" Natasha interrogated.

Steve was in shock that somebody could change gender and Hawkeye was worried about what damage Alex could wreak on the headquarters.

Thor looked on frightened by the questions his teammates were posing. He shuffled his feet and cleared his throat. "Yes?" Natasha asked angrily.

"Loki being Alex's mother I did not know. However, I did know that he could take female form," Thor admitted.

"And you never thought to tell us this?!" Clint exclaimed.

"It wasn't important before now, besides it is an insult to be called an argr," Thor explained.

Steve snapped out of his stupor. "Argr?" he asked.

"A person who changes gender, or unmanly," Thor defined the word.

Natasha raised an eyebrow. "Unmanly?" she asked.

"Or unwomanly," Thor rushed to correct himself. "Anyways, I had better calm Alex down; she will not harm any mortals, but that does not mean there will be no property damage from her lashing out." He quickly turned towards the door and exited the room.

…

Alex stormed out of the interrogation room, his two-toned eyes eyes glowing with rage. He headed down the numerous corridors to the elevator, where Thor was waiting for him.

"Lady Alex, he was already like this, there was nothing you could do," Thor consoled him.

"It's lord right now, and I knew I shouldn't have come here," Alex stated. He ran his hands through his hair.

"I'm too much like him. Whenever we talk, all we do is clash. Sam would have been so much better than me. Plus," he hesitated then sighed, "I was hoping to hold on to a good image of him. At first, he was just the person who left me at the mercy of my father and step-mother. Next, he was trying to be nice to me, but failing horribly. After that, he was a psychotic maniac. Then, he had finally became some thing _positive_ : a good friend, not really a parent, but a mentor. Now he's back to psychotic and just don't know what to do!"

By this time, Alex had tears streaking down his face, while at the same time trying to hold back the tsunami of emotions. He closed his eyes for a moment and focused on channeling his emotions into turning his eyes blue. The grief disappeared as it was used as fuel for the new change.

"I'm fine," Alex choked out and pressed the up button next to the elevator.

 **AN: Well, yeah, that happened. And yes, this was a very Loki-centric chapter, but I'm trying to paint Loki's personality, which I now know is really hard to do, as well as give Alex a bit more...something. Humanity? I don't know. Also, the reason Alex isn't Alex Chase is because I thought that she wouldn't take on Magnus' name if they ever got married, and would rather keep her own as a sign of independence. Also, PLEASE VOTE ON THE POLL! I would like at least TEN VOTES on there before I post Chapter Five.** **Your demigodishness, QLC**


	4. Chapter 4:

**So, um, hey! Sorry was so late in getting this one up *chuckles nervously* but anyways here it is! Heavily inspired by "The Doctor Is In" by HateIsRealAndItsIsMe. I was really disappointed that it was unfinished, so I'm trying incorporate some of ideas from there in here, but I won't be copying its main plot. Anyways, f** **or this chapter the exact time is a bit...fuzzy, but it's the first time the Avengers move into Stark Tower. Also, let's pretend that Stark simply announced there would be some 'special guests' staying in the tower, rather than specifying the Avengers.**

"I am truly excited to see the quarters you have made for us," Thor said and thumped his hand against Stark's back. "But, you do know that I will not stay here often. I have many other duties to attend to in Asgard."

"'Course, Point-Break, but whenever you need to come down to Midgard, we got a place for you here," Tony responded while rubbing his now-sore spine.

With a ding the elevator doors opened to a spacious deck leading the a expansive wall of reinforced glass. There was also a bar to one side, already filled with bottles of vodka and other beverages. Employees were rushing around carrying boxes or papers and occasionally stopping in the middle of the room to talk to one of the women there.

Both of them had their backs turned towards the group of superheroes. Tony sneaked up behind the one with strawberry-blonde hair and put his hands on her shoulders. Pepper flinched and nearly dropped her phone.

"Tony, I'm working!" She turned around and scowled. Then, Pepper noticed the rest of the Avengers and blinked in astonishment.

She elbowed the other woman, a fit, tan girl in a suit with her curly blonde hair tied back in a ponytail.

"What?" Annabeth snapped as she scribbled something down on her clipboard.

"The guests have arrived," Pepper answered.

Annabeth turned around and smiled. Then, she saw just who the guests were and the smile froze before dropping. Thor looked flabbergasted before quickly composing himself. "Tho-the Avengers?!" Annabeth shrieked.

"Yep," Tony replied, smiling at Annabeth's reaction.

"I should have known you would do something like this," she murmured while shaking her head and started to erase something she written down earlier. "I'll need to upgrade the training floor, personalize the rooms."

She looked up. "Favorite colors?"

"I'm going to head out," Pepper called to Tony as she walked out of the room.

…

After playing an hour of questionnaire with Annabeth, the team was ready to do something, anything really.

"You could go down to the training room," Annabeth suggested. "I'll need to update it, but as long as you play nice nothing should get broken. And I'm sure Tony would love to have you in his lab, Bruce, right?" She gave a pointed glare at Stark.

He seemed to shrink under her gaze. "Yes, ma'am."

The group walked towards the elevator.

"How did she do that?" Natasha asked.

Tony shivered as he pushed the down button. "The last time I crossed her, I woke up with all of the paperwork for the tower in my room and the doors locked with a sign saying, 'You can't leave 'till you finish.'"

"I like her style." Clint smiled while walking into the elevator.

…

Stark's phone began to ring.

"Excuse me," Tony said to Bruce as he moved out into the hallway. Then, he checked the number: Pepper's. "Yes?" he asked.

What he wasn't expecting was the voice of a young man. "Mr. Stark, sir, I am a trained field medic, and your associate has been shot. I have removed the bullet and there doesn't seem to be any major damage, but she is in need of immediate sterilization and something to stop the bleeding, sir, or she may die of blood loss."

"How do I know I can trust you?" Stark asked suspiciously.

There was a pause and Happy's voice came up. "I can vouch for the kid, you coming?" he asked.

"Of course I'm coming," Tony replied immediately and went back into the lab for his suit.

Upon arriving to the scene, Tony found a young-looking blonde boy, Pepper, and Happy sitting on the sidewalk near a bullet-ridden limo and wrecked car around several injured civilians.

The police had apprehended the two men responsible, and were loading them into the police cruiser when Tony arrived.

"C'mon, I'll get you to the tower med-bay," Tony said while picking her up and flying off.

"So, what are we supposed to do?" the boy asked, picking up his satchel after treating the last person and calling the hospital.

Harold sighed. "I'll get us a cab; you're coming to Stark Tower."

…

Will was having an...exhilarating day to say the least. He was on his way to camp from his and Nico's apartment, but then was met with a bunch of _empousa_. Luckily, they didn't have much effect on him and were easily dealt with using his knife and trusty sun-whip. Of course, his bad luck didn't end there.

Next, Will found himself in the middle of a mini-battlefield in the streets of New York. When he heard the gunshots, he immediately rushed towards the sound, and upon arriving was greeted with the sight of some mortal terrorists.

Everybody was running away from them as the pair of men holding guns drove around the block.

Will moved from car to car, helping out anybody he could, fixing them up and leading them away from the fight.

There were a few injuries, but they all seemed to be superficial and Will easily handled them with the emergency supplies he had in his bag. That was, until he saw Pepper.

There was one more place he had to go: a bullet-ridden black limo. Behind it were two people: a man wearing a black suit and woman with strawberry-blonde hair clutching her arm, which was bleeding.

On the outside, it didn't look too bad, a bit messy, but then again, any field doctor worth a penny knew that the outside didn't matter a bit when it came to bullets.

"I'm Harold Hogan." the man said. "This is Pepper Potts. Look kid, I saw what you did out there, but we need an actual-"

"Actually, sir," Will interrupted, "I am a registered field medic at the Oakland University for Mixed Races, and despite my looks, am quite experienced, so _let_ _me_ _work_." He emphasized the last few words and then turned back to Pepper without waiting for an answer.

Hogan watched as Will checked to see if Ms. Potts had gone into shock, and realized that, beside his young looks, the man knew what he was doing. Hogan nodded. "Fine, do what you gotta do."

After determining Pepper was indeed not in shock, Will turned to Harold. "I can't give her a full assessment here; we need to get out." Will explained. "I need you to help me stabilize her."

He turned back to Pepper and grabbed her gently by the cheeks making her eyes meet his blue ones. "OK, Miss Potts, I'm going to do something that's going to hurt, okay? But we need to make sure the bullet isn't stuck in the bone, so I need you to do what I say, alright?"

Will expected a whimper or a grunt in response, but was surprised when Pepper gritted her teeth and responded completely coherently. "I understand."

He nodded without taking a moment to appreciate the woman's strength. Will looked to Hogan. "Hold her arm close to her chest while I tie my coat around her. As much as I want to get the bullet out of her, I need to make sure you guys don't get any more injured than you already are." As he said this, Will noticed the scrapes that covered Hogan's body, and made a note to check those out later.

The older man pushed Pepper's arm against her torso, making her give out a small yelp of pain, and Will got to work. His hands were fast and methodical, not wasting any time making a sling out of his coat for her to use. The serious look on his face made him look his actual age, instead of twenty-looking like the rest of his body, and his usually bright blue eyes were fierce with determination. He gave even the best doctors a run for their money with the speed he was treating Pepper Potts.

Will then looked around and ducked as a bullet came through the window of the limo they hid behind. He crouched on the balls of his feet and fiercely whispered, "C'mon, we need to move before we get shot!"

The two didn't hesitate to chase after him as he sprinted across the streets and away from the limo.

After a few minutes, he slowed to a jog before stopping, his two patients behind him, panting.

Will listened for a few minutes, and was satisfied that the sirens were faint. Solace took a deep breath to calm himself, then turned to Pepper. "Alright, we're safe enough for now. I need a better look at the wound, so I'm going to remove the sling."

He didn't waste time untying the knot he had made; not only would she lose more blood, but it might jostle the wound and possibly injure her further.

Instead, Solace brought out his knife. It was small, simple, and somewhat surgical with a curved, sharp point that resembled a scalpel. It was made of a mix of Celestial bronze and iron, so he could use it on mortals if necessary.

He quickly wiped it down, then cut the coat's fabric with a single slash, causing Pepper to flinch, and cut off a piece of her shirt to get a good look at the entry point.

"Hold her down," Will directed Hogan.

He inspected the wound. It looked messy on the surface, but past the point of entry it was a clean shot. She was lucky, too; the bullet barely missed her clavicle. The hard part was getting it out, and on a second observation, Will noticed it had hit her scapula.

"How you hit your scapula, yet completely missed your clavicle is beyond me. One of strangest cases I've seen," he muttered.

Pepper let out a small snort. "Yeah, I'm the strange one."

"And my patient's sarcastic." Will grumbled. "Even better." He took a reasonably clean drachma out of his pocket and put in between the woman's teeth to keep her from screaming. "Bite down hard," he said calmly.

Then, without any warning to Pepper, he used his finger to move a bit of skin aside, slightly widening the wound. Before she could register what was going on through the haze of pain, Will slipped his knife in the small hole, poking and prodding.

A scream ripped out from her mouth, but the drachma kept her reasonably quiet. "Did you know the idiom 'bite the bullet' came from combat medics?" Will asked her as he dug the knife in a bit deeper. "They put bullets in between their patient's teeth to make sure they didn't give away their position. But bullets were only used if leather wasn't around. It would muffle the sounds much better than metal could."

"That isn't helping!" Hogan hissed.

"What do you want me to say?!" Will snapped as he concentrated on being careful not to hit the scapula or tear any more muscle. "That she has a broken scapula? That her deltoid is broken and she has a minor tear in her infraspinatus muscle? Should I explain that if she doesn't keep still I could accidentally tear the muscles in her shoulder girdle, rendering her left arm useless, and possibly have to amputate it? Please, Mr. Hogan, explain to me what you want me to say?"

As he said the last word, Will jerked back, expertly twisting the knife. A bloody piece of metal came out alongside flecks of bone, bouncing once before rolling to a stop. A sigh of relief made its way out of Will. He took out the drachma from Pepper's mouth and pocketed it.

She began to pant from the effort of holding in her screams for so long.

Huffing from the endeavor, Will laid down for a moment.

"What now?" Hogan asked.

"Now?" Will let out a bark of laughter. "If I had my equipment, I would sterilize the area, put her under, and then do some intensive surgery for a few hours to ensure she could use her arm again in her lifetime. But, currently, I don't have access to that, so could you please contact somebody and let me explain the situation to them?"

Hogan dialed a number and handed Will the phone.

"Yes?" Tony answered.

 **So that's that. Will's in, Nico's (most likely) in. Also, I would really appreciate it if those of you with accounts would check out the poll; I only have, like, three voters. Also, any suggestions on a possible villain would be much appreciated. Your demigodishness, QLC**


	5. Chapter 5:

**AN: Ugh! *a girl collapses onto her bed* That sucked! I know I probably should have updated before now, but I had tests**

 **…and then got nostalgic**

 **…and then started watching/reading some of my favorite shows/books**

 **…and then started writing fanfiction about those franchises, some of which include**

 ***takes a deep breath* Yu-Gi-Oh (Original, GX, 5D's, and Zexal), Divergent, Harry Potter, Avatar: TLA as well as LoK, and finally Digimon. Lots and lots of Digimon. So after exhausting my creativity on all of those topics, it was kind of hard for me to conjure up any paragraphs for this story, and I'm probably going to have to rewrite this chapter at a later date. *mouthes _I'm so sorry_ ***

 **Anyways, I know I had the poll and everything...but I kinda got this idea in my head and now I'm pretty much including all the characters listed on there...so, um, yeah. However, this should mean that you'll get the next chapter within two weeks. Hopefully.**

 **(Also, a certain somebody's death in the Burning Maze never happened in this fanfiction!)**

Annabeth had just arranged the new furniture for the Avengers' quarters when Tony came flying down onto the balcony holding a bloody Pepper in his hands.

"What happened?" she snapped as he placed Pepper down and took his suit off.

"Terrorist attack," he replied. "Luckily, there was a medic there to help. Happy's bringing him over. I'll reward him somehow."

Annabeth simply nodded and called over some employees to carry her to the med-bay. "I'll inform Dr. Banner."

Soon enough, the Avengers (and Annabeth) were circled around an unconscious Pepper as she was operated on by a surgeon, who soon told them to leave.

"Crime seems to be getting higher since the Invasion," Clint remarked as they waited outside the operating room.

"People are trying to take advantage of the chaos left behind," Natasha answered.

Just that moment, Happy and a young-looking, blonde man walked in.

"Is Miss Potts OK?" the man demanded, then noticed Annabeth and Thor who both also noticed him in return.

"Will?" she said flabbergasted.

"Hi, Annabeth." he replied timidly, suddenly shy.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Tony inquired.

Annabeth looked to Tony. "This is my cousin-in-law, Will di Angelo-Solace. We went to college together," she explained.

'Di Angelo?' Steve knit his eyebrows in confusion. Hadn't he heard that name before?

"Well, welcome to the family." Tony chuckled and wrapped his arm around Will's shoulder.

"Is there anything I can do for Miss Potts?" he insisted, lightly pushing Tony's arm off his shoulder.

"No, Will," Annabeth answered. "She's currently undergoing surgery, and should be fine. However…" Annabeth inspected her cousin. "She is in need of an assistant, and would need a doctor to monitor the use of her arm, perhaps you could help her with that?"

Will's eyes immediately brightened and his freckles seemed to glow with happiness. He smiled and said, "Of course!"

"Then I'll talk to her about it," Annabeth promised.

…

"Well then," Tony said, and clasped his hands, "who are we inviting to the party?"

Tony, Annabeth, and Pepper had been discussing how to best spread the word about the Avengers' new headquarters. Tony, of course, being Tony, decided to throw a party full of celebrities that could give good press.

"Well, we shouldn't over-crowd it," Annabeth stated. "It should be low-key and those invited should be supporters of both the Avengers and Stark Industries."

Tony scratched his chin. "I can think of a few. There's definitely Hazel; she's a big supporter, and would probably get along with Steve because of her old-fashioned-ness."

"How about Mrs. Grace?" Pepper suggested. "She's good when it comes to the press."

"I'm not so sure that's a good idea!" Annabeth cut in. She was worried about there being too many demigods; it wouldn't be good for there to be a monster attack halfway through.

"Why not?" Pepper frowned.

Annabeth was grasping at straws; she really had been spending too much time with Percy. "Umm...because they don't like being in the same room?"

"But I've seen them together before," Pepper argued.

"Let them both come, Annabeth; we just won't tell them the other is coming," Tony compromised.

Annabeth hesitated; it wasn't exactly what she was looking for, but if she tried too hard they would look into it.

"OK, that's fine."

Tony suddenly grinned and leaned forward. "Ooo, how about Sadie Kane? She's the best at parties. Absolutely amazing when it comes to making people see her way."

Annabeth nearly winced. Another mythology?

"Rachel from Dare Industries would be good, too. She's very good at diffusing tension, if you were worried about Hazel and Piper, Annabeth," Pepper stated.

'Well, at least the Oracle of Delphi doesn't have a scent,' Annabeth thought.

"That's a good idea, Pepper," Annabeth said out loud, "Are the guests allowed to bring guests of their own?"

"Yeah, that'll be fun; their kids are always a pleasure to have in a party, though that means we'll have to limit the alcohol," Tony said, frowning slightly. "You, Will, and Leo can bring your family, too."

"Will's coming?" Annabeth asked, slightly surprised.

Pepper nodded. "I've accepted him as my secretary, and since I will be there, he will too."

"Will." Tony snickered. Both women rolled their eyes in response.

"Well, since that's decided, we should probably get back to work. Tony, we still have a bunch of paperwork to get through," Pepper said.

"Do I have to?" Tony pouted.

"Would you rather I make you?" Annabeth said sweetly.

"No!" Tony exclaimed, then coughed, "uh, I mean I would, uh, love to do paperwork with you, Pepper."

Annabeth and Pepper both smiled and spoke in unison, "Good."

Tony cringed. Why did he have to hire such devious people?

…

"You got it?" Percy spoke into a celestial bronze watch as he headed down the western part of Thirty-Second.

"Of course I got it!" a voice snapped, though it sounded a bit more offended than cocky. "Intersection of West Twenty-Fifth and Eighth Avenue."

"Thanks, Leo," Percy replied and twisted the watch, causing a small click! to be heard as it changed to silent mode.

The son of Poseidon casually but steadily made his way through the crowded New York streets towards the south before switching east as he arrived at the intersection of West Twenty-Fifth and Ninth.

Within a few seconds, Percy began to have that tingling feeling that demigods now had when a monster was nearby. Because of their help in the Giant War (and in the Oracle conflict, but mainly the former), the Seven had gotten to wish for one thing.

Eventually, thanks to Annabeth's mind and Piper's persuasion skills, as well as the many, many experiences they'd had with monsters, the veterans had agreed to wish for a "monster sense" ability, so that younger demigods and quest-goers would avoid getting into too much trouble.

When a demigod was about a kilometer away from a mythological terror, they would get a small sense of uneasiness, like the impression someone was watching them.

Within ten meters, a tingling, similar to somebody breathing down your neck.

Within two, a shiver down the spine. However, once you spotted the monster, the sensation would go away, so it wouldn't inhibit your combat abilities.

Percy crossed the road and searched the crowd, his battle-trained eyes quickly scanning each individual face to see if the agitated aura would go away.

He turned to his right and spotted a middle-aged woman. However, when he focused on her, her eyes turned to reptilian slits and where her legs would be, two serpentine trunks took their place. A dracaena: one of the weaker, more common types of monster, but not to be underestimated in larger groups.

Percy still had the tingling, so he looked around some more and recognized several more-all heading towards him. He sighed as the sensation finally faded. Of course. You'd think after all these years they'd finally learn to give up.

Percy dashed into the nearest unoccupied area, which happened to be an alley a few feet away. All of the dracanae abruptly changed course and headed towards him.

"Do we have to do this?" Percy asked as the serpentine women surrounded him. He was gripping the ballpoint pen in his pocket, ready to unsheath it.

"Young sea-spawn," one of the dracanae hissed, "it will not be so easy this time. Our queen has allied herself with powers larger than that of the Olympians or any other pantheon."

"Really? Sess finally did something smart?" Percy taunted, but inside he was worried. Another threat? He wasn't sure how many more he could take.

One of the smaller (and, most likely, younger) dracanae rose to the jibe and lunged. With one fluid movement, Percy had unsheathed his sword and her head laid unmoving on the floor before slowly dissolving into golden dust.

"Stupid girl," the elder dracaena from before hissed. "She was too inexperienced to be sent on this mission"

"So were you, for taking it," Percy said and swiftly cut off one of the elder dracaena's trunks.

To his surprise, only the leg turned to dust, while the rest of her stayed intact with the remaining trunk growing to balance out the lost one.

Percy was so startled by this new development that he barely was able to block the dracanae's strike.

"That's new," Percy remarked and aimed for the neck, which he figured must be the weak spot. The elder dracaena dissolved and he turned to face the rest of the dragon ladies. "Mind telling me how she did that?"

The dracanae responded by all lunging at once and Percy gave a small smile. Within a few seconds, all but one of the them remained.

"Who sent you?" Percy snarled, suddenly threatening as he pointed his sword-tip at the dragon woman's throat. "Tell me!"

"Never," she replied and slit her throat with her own claw. The dracaena quickly dissolved into golden dust, leaving Percy holding thin air.

Percy capped Riptide frustratedly and twisted the bronze watch again.

"Was it successful?" Leo asked.

"Yes, but it looks we may have a bigger problem," Percy replied.

…

Annabeth checked her platinum watch. "It's getting late. I'd better show the rest of our guests to their rooms," she told Pepper. Annabeth had already led Thor (who had to leave a few minutes earlier) and Bruce (who had gotten lost and entertained Tony for quite a bit on one of his breaks) to their rooms, which left the SHIELD agents and Mister Steve Rogers.

"I'll watch over him while you're gone," Pepper promised.

"Can't I take a break?" Tony whined, still writing his signature on the next few legal documents.

"No, you had one twenty-three minutes ago," Pepper told him, while Annabeth walked out of the room.

She quickly closed the soundproof door before the two could start arguing, and entered the elevator.

Annabeth first checked the training floor, reasoning that the SHIELD agents and perhaps Steve would most likely be there.

Turns out, her reasoning was correct and she came face-to-face with the two agents sparring without weapons, and Steve in the corner practicing on a punching bag.

As Annabeth entered the room, Natalia and Clint stopped trading blows with each other and turned to face her.

"I'm here to take you to your rooms," Annabeth explained, raising her voice enough that Steve could also hear her.

All the response she got from the assassins was small nods, unlike Steve who stopped using the punching bag and walked over to her. Annabeth lead them into the elevator, and she pressed the button that would take them to the second-to-top floor.

Silence followed the tiny ding of the elevator. Steve cleared his throat, but did not attempt to make small-talk.

A few seconds later, another bell sound was heard and the silvery doors opened to reveal a tiny hallway with a door to either side. The uncomfortable silence stayed with the group as they exited. The Avengers' trained eyes were automatically drawn to the various doors in the hall, and Natalia noticed how Annabeth's did so as well.

Annabeth cleared her throat and said in an authoritative voice, "Miss Romanoff, you are the door to the left. Mister Barton, you are the one on the right. Within your quarters you will have a three-room area, including a bathroom, sitting room, and bedroom. In the sitting room, there will be a small kitchen and mini-fridge if you do not wish to go to level ninety-eight for dining, which reminds me-"

Annabeth took out three cards, each one with the first and last name of the Avenger on it as well as a barcode and gave them to the other members of the group.

"-these are your slide-cards. They will allow you access anywhere within the top ten floors, as well as the public floors. Any questions?"

Steve raised his hand, blushing slightly, and Annabeth militaristically nodded in his direction. "What if we need help finding our way around the building, ma'am?"

"I'm sure JARVIS could help with that. Won't you JARVIS?" Annabeth asked.

"Of course, Mrs. Jackson, I would be happy to oblige," a disembodied voice replied, causing Steve to flinch.

"Who was that?" Steve wondered aloud and Annabeth gave a small chuckle.

"Not who, what. That was JARVIS, Tony's robotic assistant," Annabeth explained, then checked her silvery watch and frowned.

"Steve, your room is on the right on the floor below this one, number ninety-nine. Now excuse me, but I need to go." she said with authority and walked into the elevator.

When the employee had left, Steve remarked, "She acted like a war-seasoned commander. Orderly and to-the-point, but also making small jokes to keep up moral."

"Yes," Natasha replied, her lips pursed in a small frown. "Yes she did."

 **AN: So, to work on this long-term story, I am going to divide it into arcs, each of which will be a single book (with maybe some side stories).**

 **The first, obviously, will be this story: Twenty Years Later written by yours truly! However, I might give the task of making some of the later books to different authors, so I can have some time to get out some of my other fanfiction (* _cough_ * Digimon * _cough_ *) and post that.**

 **I'm hoping to finish this arc by the end of the year (perhaps a bit sooner or bit later), and after that you can PM me an idea of what you want to happen for the next arc, and an excerpt from one of the chapters you want to write (more of that process later). This is the first time I've heard of an author doing this, so hopefully we can make this work and finish this series! Your demigodishness, QLC**


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